At the end of July, 10 child refugees boarded a flight from Lebanon to South Africa, to celebrate completing a year of schooling. They are expected to arrive in Newcastle today (August 8).

The children are learners at the Aman School – meaning ‘safety’ in Arabic – which was established in Lebanon in 2021 by the African Muslim Association (AMA). AMA aims to give the children hope by attending school and making their dreams a reality.

Their dreams are different to the dreams of our children in South Africa,” said the association’s Fathima Seedat.

Seedat was part of the women’s delegation from Newcastle, which went to Lebanon to meet the children. The delegation initially consisted of men only, but the need for a ‘woman’s touch’ became very apparent.

Seedat explained that the children were denied an education because of their nationality. Meanwhile, AMA continues to make hundreds of children’s dreams come true by giving them the opportunity to learn.

See below for some images from the refugees’ journey (all images supplied by Fathima Seedat):

Read more on these brave children and their journey in an upcoming edition of the Newcastle Advertiser.

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